Now terrorists are targeting refugees: 12 killed as car bomb rips through Pakistani camp
Device explodes at Jalozai camp on outskirts of northern city of PeshawarMost casualties were families displaced by army's battle with the TalibanPeshawar is on border of
tribal area – Taliban's main sanctuary in Pakistan

By
Sam Adams

PUBLISHED:

09:18 GMT, 21 March 2013

|

UPDATED:

20:43 GMT, 21 March 2013

Twelve people were killed when a car packed with explosives blew up inside a refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan.

At least another 20 people were injured when the device exploded as hundreds queued for food today at Jalozai camp on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The camp mainly hosts Pakistanis who have been displaced by fighting between the army and the Taliban on the border with Afghanistan.

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Attack: Twelve people were killed in the car bomb attack on the Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar

Devastation: An injured man is tended to by medical staff as the authorities try to cope with the aftermath of the blast

Fighting: The bomb exploded as families were queuing up at to receive food at the camp

Most of the casualties were from the Bajur and Khyber tribal areas along the Afghan border, the police said. The army has carried out operations against the Pakistani Taliban in both of those areas.

Many of the camp's residents get rations from the United Nations' World Food Program. It is unclear whether the attack will disrupt the group's operations there because of safety concerns.

Peshawar is located on the border of the tribal region – the Taliban's main sanctuary in the country – and has been hit by scores of bombings in recent years.

The Taliban has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government in an attempt to establish an Islamic state and end Pakistan's cooperation with the United States in fighting militancy.

The militant group withdrew an offer of holding peace talks with the Pakistani government this week, saying officials did not seem serious about sitting down at the negotiation table despite comments to the contrary.

Horror: Many of the victims of the blast had suffered wounds inflicted by flying shrapnel and debris

Casualty: Pakistani rescue workers carry a victim of the blast away to a local hospital. Hundreds of people live in the camp for internally displaced people in north-western Pakistan

Battle: Most of those killed were displaced from tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan where the Pakistani Army has been fighting the Taliban